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Australian Army Invests in Electrical Shirts
Stony Stevenson writes "The Australian Defence Department has injected $4.4 million worth of funding to further Australia's national science agency's (the CSIRO) research into designing clothing which can be used as a self-recharging electrical source on the battlefield. The Defence Department is hoping the technology can be used to replace cumbersome disposable batteries that soldiers must carry on the battlefield. The Flexible Integrated Energy Device (FIED) will be used to store and provide energy over a continuous period of time. It can be charged by either vibration energy harvesting or through plugging into an electrical power point."
Thats great, now they just need to give out a load of free pin ups pics so they can all get to work cranking up a good charge to power their gear.
This means that while it is perfectly possible in theory for soldiers to charge batteries by running around, they will have to exert that extra energy themselves. I doubt that any soldiers (already heavily laden with weapons, body-armour and other gear) will want to wear suit that requires more energy from you for movements than normal suits.
Are they going to look like Dynamo from the movie ''Running man''?
If not, I'm not interested.
Magazine 13 - We like to think its funny... sort of
...if [the extra exertion required to charge this shirt] is less than or equal to [the energy needed to haul around those batteries the shirt will be replacing], then it's a net win. In fact, even if the shirt requires more exertion, it might still be worth it not to have to worry, "Do I have my batteries with me today?" "Are my batteries charged?"
Just for those of you that may not be familiar with the term: Grunt
The extra weight of the clothing is offset by not having to carry the extra batteries. So it shouldn't place anymore weight on the troop. I know it's much more convenient for me to wear a loaded photographers vest than it is to carry the bag. Same weight, but the distribution of that weight on your shoulders feels much better at the end of the day.
My concerns are these.
What's this vest made of? If a trooper takes a bullet through the vest, what type of stuff from the vest is going to follow the bullet into the body?
If this shirt is meant to be worn under armor then what impact does the constraint of being sandwiched between the body and the armor have on the overall effectiveness of the shirt?
If the shirt is meant to be worn over the armor, is there any redundancy to the power generation when the shirt takes a hit? With batteries, the trooper could always ask a buddy for a spare battery. Asking for the shirt from your buddies back, in combat, would probably be looked on negatively.
Come on... Flexible Rechargeable Integrated Energy Device is much better. I'd wear a fried shirt - wouldn't you?
But they have to run regardless of which system they have used. They are actually replacing heavy non-rechargable batteries, which may run out, with this new system, which probably weighs about the same, but provides much more reliable power.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Well I wouldn't say that exactly
http://www.australianminesatlas.gov.au/info/info.jsp
Australia has about 5% of the world's EDR of magnesite
Australia has 10% of the worlds EDR of Iron ore
Australia's EDR of industrial diamond 19% of the current World total
Australia's 37% of of worlds EDR of Nickel
The USGS estimate of World gold reserves of 42 000 t was similar to 2005 According to the USGS, South Africa still has the World's largest reserve of gold at 6000 t (14.3% a similar level as in 2005. According to the USGS Australia has the second largest reserve with approximately 12% of the World's holdings.)
Australia has the World's largest resources of uranium in RAR recoverable at less than US$80/kg U (equates to EDR), with 27% of World resources in this category (at December 2006). Other countries with large resources include Kazakhstan (14%), Canada (13%), Niger (7%) and South Africa (7%) (Source: OECD/NEA & IAEA.)
Based on USGS data for other countries, Australia's demonstrated bauxite resources of 7.8 Gt rank second in the world after Guinea with 8.6 Gt and ahead of Brazil with 2.5 Gt, Jamaica with 2.5 Gt and China with 2.3 Gt.
Australia is the world's largest iron ore exporter and, as a producer, ranks third (with 16%) after China (31%) and Brazil (18%).
Produces about 40% of world bauxite and over 30% of world alumina, making it the largest producer of bauxite and alumina.
Based on USGS data for other countries, Australia has the World's largest EDR of both zinc (18% of the World) and lead (32%). Australia has the World's second largest EDR of silver (16%) behind Poland (18%).
I'd peg a stable government and an educated populace
Most the Time it feels the other way around.
now to stay on topic
We need this type of forward thinking as we have a massive country and a tiny population.
The old work smarter not harder.
Regards,
Namor
Dual Century Programming: Yeah I know